Paul,
The following is from the BD-4 web site. There has been a
lot of traffic there lately regarding the lack of any form
of insurance for aircraft with auto conversions. I believe
this was written by Johnny of Northwest Aero. It's long and
maybe doesn't belong on the NL but it apparently is turning
into a very real problem. Fred O
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Actually, I truly believe that AOPA and EAA would just as
soon see "us" go away. They consider our rogue band of
mischief makers to be a thorn in their operation, and a bad
publicity stunt. Our numbers are so small that they don't
need to care about us, they don't make anything off of us,
we are the least supportive of their organization, the least
involved in their fly-ins and other activities, don't
advertise much in their publications, and cause great
concern to those that are otherwise clueless as to what we
are actually trying to do with our airplanes.
I get this overall impression from the dealings I have had
in the past with AOPA and EAA concerning safety,
certification, insurance, test flight programs etc. EAA,
especially, seems like they are trying to distance
themselves from anything truly experimental. The best
evidence would be to observe what has happened to their
publications. Remember what Sport Aviation used to be like?
There used to be builder articles that actually dealt with
experimental aviation. Now your lucky to find a "me-too"
project hidden somewhere between the turbine powered glass
slipper article and the pictures of $1M warbirds. When I
called them on that several years ago, they referred me to
their Experimenter publication. They didn't get it when I
told them I wasn't that interested in Ultralights.
Don't get me wrong, I know that without AOPA and EAA we
would probably be worse off. But when it comes to auto
conversion aircraft, they just don't care. The easiest and
quickest way to put us out of business is to refuse
insurance to our singled out group... you know how it works,
"first they came for the Pollacks, I didn't say anything
because I was not polish"... that sort of thing. Expect very
little support from the industry on this. 99% of the kits
out there are designed for a non auto engine. Most of those
companies will not give any builder support for a builder
that has chosen to use an auto conversion. Most of my
customers have to lie to their kit manufacturer about the
engine they are running. This gets even more true when you
are dealing with a kit manufacturer that is also a lycoming
dealer.
I'm not sure I know what to do about it. Our collective pool
is just not big enough for anyone to hear, not in sounds or
in dollars. Without support from a larger association, we
just aren't going to be heard. And that's the thing, EAA and
AOPA, in essence our benefactors in this case, are the ones
that are shunning us the hardest.
Why? Easy. We are a pain. Then there is the personal
problems. Dave Blanton didn't leave a real good taste in
their mouths there at EAA. I've had more than one run in
myself with both EAA and AOPA. They don't care for me much
after I told them that their canadian members are just SOL
when it comes to getting "certified like" documentation from
me for the engines I manufacture. When they started to push,
I started to state my professional opinions about the safety
of some of the builder projects they were associated with,
as well as the safety of some of the pilots they were
representing. Funny, they quickly went away after that. I
guess they don't want to loose all of their insurability,
just the members' projects that display the black eye of
running a non-certified engine.
As for my business, yes it's been slower than usual. I might
even have to resort to selling stuff for fords again (just
kidding bruce). Based on what my customers and potential
customers tell me, the insurance problem is definitely a
major part of it. "I don't want to get into this thing and
then find out I can't get insurance". Then I say; "Oh, well
I'm not that knowledgeable about the insurance business, but
if you call EAA or AOPA I'm sure they will be able to help
you out". Then I never hear from them again. I don't think
that either of those organizations are my friend at this
point. If anything, they are steering their members AWAY
from any auto conversions.
I'm afraid we just haven't had a good ambassador for our
interests... and I'm not it. I scare the crap out of them.
We need a slick mouthpiece and enough money to create a
group of our own, but I don't think that I see either on
the horizon.
Here's why I'm not holding my breath; The personality type
that seeks an auto conversion engine for their homebuilt is,
by definition, not the "joiner" type. They exist on the
outside of these groups. They run like hell when someone
comes at them with an application form. They don't attend
the me-too flyins and other gatherings, because they don't
have an interest in me-too stuff. They are the last person
to join a group of any sort, even an auto conversion group.
I know, I've tried for years to get one together. I'd talk
to lots of people that were interested in it, but when it
came time to actually participate, nothing happens. It might
be similar to the plight of the libertarian. People with
libertarian views generally are not the type of person that
make a successful politician. Hence, they go nowhere as a
political group, even though the majority of people out
there agree with many of their core beliefs.
It's going to be hard to get any kind of action out of these
established organizations when:
a. They really don't want us anyway.
b. Anarchists don't work that well in a group
c. "We" are only a handful of trouble makers... we can't
make enough trouble to be effective.
It's grim.
Personally, I don't loose sleep over being insured or not,
but most people that are still teetering on the auto
conversion fence (read; the numbers we need to be
effective), aren't going to go that kung-ho for it. As long
as insurance is a problem, not many newbies are going to
take the plunge. Over time the old ones die off and the idea
becomes extinct, and then "they" don't have to bother with
"us" anymore.
Is it really a conspiracy? I don't give them that much
credit. It's more of an accident through convenience.
(really getting long winded now)
So, what do we do about it to keep from being extinct? I'm
not sure, but here's a couple thoughts:
1. We need to have a larger presence at the shows (My
hypocrisy knows no bounds... I don't care much for what the
shows have become these last 10 years, so I don't attend
many or stay very long). A greater presence could include
making sure ALL of the auto guys have their cowlings off and
their engines displayed.
2. Clean those things up before you display them. I'm sorry,
but many of the auto conversion airplanes I see at the shows
are just flat scary looking under the cowl. They look like a
partial birth abortion gone bad. Wires and hoses everywhere,
and lots of "standard aircraft technique" ignored. Is it any
wonder that the regular AOPA type flyer is afraid of them?
Just think of how scared the lawyers that work at AOPA must
be. We have a black eye we need to fix in this respect.
3. Have our own association with our own events. I have a
customer list that numbers at least in the hundreds if not
more. I think you could actually get these non-joiners to
join if it was EXCLUSIVELY for them. If the established
associations are going to continue to ignore our need for
affordable insurance, I don't see the need to support them
any longer. Let the regular nerds pay for that. The only way
the auto conversion nerds are going to get anywhere is to
pool resources and create a voice that way.
And to that extent, I want to tell a true little story about
another group of black sheep that was barred from insurance
and how they overcame it:
AYA stands for American Yankee Association. I think the
entire fleet is about 1500 airplanes. Most are AYA members,
BECAUSE THAT'S THE ONLY WAY TO GET AFFORDABLE INSURANCE FOR
A YANKEE. The Yankee had a lot of bad press early on, mostly
because it was being used as a primary trainer and low time
pilots (read; young, poor and stupid) could afford to own
one. Hence, a higher than average crash record. The airplane
became almost uninsurable at any price.
What the AYA did was to perform there own study using NTSB
records and the like to prove that the aircraft wasn't
inherently dangerous. They compiled statistics that showed
that when the pilot was properly trained in type, the
aircraft wasn't anymore dangerous than the average light
aircraft. Statistics showed that once the pilot had more
than 100-200 hours in type, they were actually less prone to
have an accident than the average. Then they set up a
program where they have there own examiners test each
insurance applicant on the basics and the idiosyncrasies of
operating their Yankee. They emphasize the areas that were
known to be a problem, IOW what had caused most of the
crashes up to that point. This combined with a "group buy"
of insurance was enough for them to get the various
insurance companies to bid on a contract for the whole
group. IOW, when the AYA calls to get insurance, they can
guarantee at least 1000 policies will be sold... that's a
much bigger stick than !
just one guy calling at a time.
The result is affordable insurance for an airplane that at
one time had the biggest black eye of all.
So, it can be done. But, it will take an organization that
represents us, and in enough numbers to be heard. It may
take some sort of in-house training and/or examination to
prove to the insurer that "this" auto conversion homebuilt
is "safe". It may also take some sort of standards, set by
us, to give the conversion aircraft builder a guide to build
by so that their aircraft can be "approved for insurance"
when it is done.
Most of these ideas are already in place at the other
organizations, and are helpful to the builder. But if these
organizations are not going to support us, then they are
worthless and an alternative needs to be established.
I can contribute the following to the cause:
1. Server space on a T1 for websites and mail lists.
2. A snail mailing list of all my customers (it's not
everybody out there, but almost).
3. I might be able to swing doing an initial mailing to same.
4. Maybe some sort of input on a manual or guild lines for
building that addresses the problems unique to auto
conversion aircraft.
5. Connections to many of the other manufacturers of
conversion products (I make stuff for some of them).
What I won't do is be the mouthpiece. I'm the last person
you want as the ambassador. I've already burned most of my
bridges with the various established associations and have
burned my cards to all of them. I'm just not a very good
politician. I'm better with a hammer.
It's your call,